Firefly - Don't Look Pintado! Spoilers!

Television, Movies Games and Books Firefly
#1

I’ve been gone off the forums for two weeks watching every Firefly episode, didn’t want to read any posts and screw anything up for myself because I’ve never seen it before. Now I don’t feel obligated to hand in my geek card. whew

Several observations:

  1. The order on Netflix instant watch is WRONG.

  2. Mal is not a bully. (Oh no he didn’t!)

  3. This may be the most well thought-out bunch of characters on any TV show or movie. EVER.

  4. At the beginning I thought Serenity was a dumpy little transport ship, now it feels like a home.

  5. Whoever is responsible for cancelling this show should be put in a box for four years as punishment, a la Jaynestown.

Now, the questions:

  1. Why was Wash killed off in the movie? If the writers were trying to make the point that living this type of life will eventually catch up to you it would have made more sense to kill off Jayne or even Mal. Not poor harmless ol’ Wash.

  2. Why do shotguns, pistols, and rifles go “pew pew pew” when they’re obviously just shotguns, pistols, and rifles?

Favorite Episode: War Stories

Interesting fact: I have always cut my apples up too. But not because there may be some kind of detonator hidden inside.

Favorite line: Mal: You can’t open the book of my life and jump in the middle. Like woman, I am a mystery.

Runner up: Mal: Well, my days of taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle

…end of line

#2

I always thought that was the point: Why poor harmless ol’ Wash? Hell, even in my brief life experience it seems to me that the world rarely dishes out fair returns. Sometimes bastards live long, rich lives and good guys finish six feet under. And sometimes when it comes, it just comes. Know what I mean?

'Cause they’re special future guns that go “pew pew.” All guns in the future go “pew pew” no matter what they look like. :stuck_out_tongue:

Nice. While mine’s different, I can honestly say that every time someone tells me their favorite 'fly ep – no matter which ep it is – I can always see their point.

Glad you enjoyed. :slight_smile:

#3

CardinalFang,

Welcome to the club. Interesting to hear that Netflix order is wrong. Can’t believe people haven’t raised holy heck about that.

I can’t speak to the reason why Wash was chosen, but I can speak to why they selected that moment to kill someone: Joss has said overtly that without killing Wash off the end of the movie would have not had the impact it did. If Wash could die for no reason then as they are holding off the Reavers you firmly believe that any one of the remaining characters are at risk and that adds real tension to the moment.

#4

…and that any one of them could have died at many moments throughout the 14 episodes.

#5

The only episode out of order is The Message…which was never aired so Netflix put it as the last episode. On DVD it would be before Heart of Gold.

Or it’s Whedon’s homage to all the finger gun fights he had as a kid. Pew Pew Pew!

Not worth the effort over 1 episode out of place.

#6

Simple. You can’t get away with the old trope of killing off the black guy (see every horror movie ever) so you kill the the white guy who’s with the black girl. Hey, you’re not racist!

Trust me, I’ve been paying attention to this.

Doesn’t excuse Dualla, in case you’re wondering.

#7

My guess as to why Wash was the ‘chosen’ one to die (NOOO! God, I still remember watching the movie for the first time, and even knowing Whedon’s M.O., I was still taken by surprise and totally gutted at the time) instead of any one else, if a death was necessary:

  1. Everybody loves Wash. Him dying would carry enough emotional weight to make everyone cry about it. Between him, Mal, and Zoe (the de facto leaders/parental figures), he is definitely the heart of the Firefly gang.
  2. Mal is the lead, and for Mal’s character arc, it was nice and maybe necessary to see this man do so much to get the message out (and in the process, choose NOT to kill the Operator so he could see what they were fighting for). So killing off Mal would leave too big of a hole for their somewhat happy ending.
  3. Zoe is a fighter, and they needed at least a few actual real fighters in the Reavers battle for it to make even the slightest sense that the team could even hold the fort down for more than 10 seconds. So, she can’t die.
  4. Jayne - same thing. My thought is that Zoe and Jayne were never in the running for getting killed because of that reason alone. And come on, it’s Jayne! Plus, he was kind of the ‘baddie’ of the group, so killing him off would be too predictable, and to this day, I’m interested as to whether Jayne became a more loyal and better person after that event (since he chose to stay with the group to fight). It’s a good arc for the character.
  5. Simon - he sucks at guns too, but he was the emotional center and the prime reason to how River became SuperRiver, and without that, everyone dies. So, he can’t die.
  6. River - see above. If she died, everyone would have died.
  7. Kaylee - She can’t fight either, and would serve the same purpose as Wash, being that everyone loves Kaylee (how could you not?) and thus her death will carry that weight. But I think there would be even more outrage had it been Kaylee instead of Wash. Too cruel. And her being alive also provided Simon with a nice ending afterwards - sorely needed for Simon.
  8. Inara - It would have been equally devastating to see Mal’s reaction to her death too. But I don’t think her death would have impacted the rest of the gang as much - not that they don’t like her or I don’t like Inara, I love her, and the crew loves her, she’s awesome - but while she’s definitely part of the gang, she did have a whole other life that has little to do with being on the ship. So, I don’t think it would have been as big of an impact to have Inara die. (And, heck, she was the 3rd best fighter of the group prior to SuperRiver! :D)

Whereas with Wash and Kaylee - being the pilot and the mechanic - their livelihood, their lives, even their everyday work fixing the engines or flying the ship - are completely intertwined with Serenity the ship. Physically, they ARE the heart of Serenity. Huh, given that, my guess would be that it was between killing off Wash or killing off Kaylee.

  1. Book - hey, what about Book? I was sad when he got killed too. (And with his death, the everlasting questions of his origins).
#8

but… they did kill the black guy =_=… shepherd anyone?

#9

Shepherd Book is black??! Im seeing the show now in a totally different light.

#10

There were at least two out of order. When watching the “Last time, on Firefly…” bit at the beginning of each episode they showed cuts from episodes I hadn’t watched yet.

They showed Shindig before Safe and they showed Ariel before Out of Gas.

Thanks for the explanation of “why Wash?”, it makes perfect sense now. And I would have been one of those people upset about killing off Kaley.

For some reason Book never felt like a part of the crew to me, he probably would have in time though. You can only develop so many characters in thriteen or fourteen episodes, ya know?

Is it just me or does it NOT seem like there are NINE people on that ship? I can’t explain it but for some reason it seems like there are only about four or five on the crew. I mean, Inara and River don’t usually have much involvment throughout the show but they are there, in the background.

After seeing how ossum Firefly is I’m tempted to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I never much bothered with it before because I figured it for bouncy-chested, frustrated, kid schlock. You know, blonde teenage vampire slayer? Please spare me… Maybe there’s something to it after all. I can only imagine the looks my wife will shoot me when she sees me gobbling down ten episodes a week, LOL.

#11
  1. Kaylee - She can’t fight either, and would serve the same purpose as Wash, being that everyone loves Kaylee (how could you not?) and thus her death will carry that weight. But I think there would be even more outrage had it been Kaylee instead of Wash. Too cruel. And her being alive also provided Simon with a nice ending afterwards - sorely needed for Simon.

I was convinced that Kaylee would die in Serenity, just because it would have been so tragic. Also, it would have perfectly mirrored her fake death in the first episode.

#12

Buffy has its ups and downs, but it’s great TV. At very least, it’s a lot more than you think it would be. It takes some time to find its footing, but it is definitely NOT a Scooby-Gang-meets-monster-of-the-week show.

Even though they call themselves the Scooby Gang sometimes.

And sometimes there’s a monster of the week.

It’s a character-driven show. At its best, it has a vibe that’s comparable to Firefly. It does not, I repeat, start off as well as Firefly did.

Speaking of wives, for what it’s worth, I started watching Buffy because Howard Stern endlessly raved about it. When I started watching, my wife asked what I was watching. When I said “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” she gave me a look that conveyed the thought, “Oh, are you KIDDING me?”

No more than two weeks later, she was on the couch beside me, gobbling up two re-runs a night.

#13

OK, sry, I just looked and Netflix has the order right.

There must be something really special in my Kool Aid…

#14

Don’t keep it to yourself, pass it on. Pass it on.

#15

yeah… Book and Inara are the only two people who don’t have to be on Firefly.

But Inara feels like part of the crew because she presence brings opportunities. She also helped out in Trash.

Book for the most part is only involved when the ship is in danger and everyone is going to die. although in the Firefly comics Book also helps out to setup jobs for Mal using his position.